But McClatchy buys into the idea that fixing the economy involves fixing a nonexistent problem, and gets Heritage and Concord people to tell us about it.
Washington is ignoring the economic problems precisely because it is obsessed with this stuff.
Treasuries are at record lows. Borrow as much as you can now!!!
Tuesday, August 09, 2011
Quiet Riot
BBC News keeps bringing people on to ask them why the rioting in London is happening, and when they try to answer the question and provide an explanation (with any validity or not, who knows) the newscasters chastise them for justifying the violence.
The System Is Blinking Red
And, no, the solution is not more deficit cuts.
The solution is to give people, other than rich banksters, free money.
The solution is to give people, other than rich banksters, free money.
Monday, August 08, 2011
Calling Foul
I just don't believe this is true.
If there was greater willingness to bypass state governments and greater willingness to be less paranoid about "accountability" the money could have easily been spent. Quick infrastructure could have been done by funneling money to local water authorities. Also, too, direct aid to local transit authorities for things like bus purchases. And as we now know, spending it quickly wasn't the only consideration.
Things may have been hard given the constraints they imposed on themselves, but those constraints were...self-imposed. I guarantee my local government and my local transit authority could have easily spent as much money as they shoveled to them. Sure it may not have all been spent wisely, but it would have been spent more wisely than not spending it at all.
Last month, I spoke to Christina Romer, Larry Summers and Jared Bernstein on this question. The three of them were arguably the administration’s most persistent and consistent advocates for more stimulus. But they all said the same thing: The bigger the stimulus became, the harder it got to spend.
“We had a hard time spending $800 billion quickly, and with that much stimulus, the issue of diminishing returns could be important,” said Romer. “I don’t believe we could have efficiently and effectively put that large a stimulus to good use with requisite accountability,” Bernstein said. “It would not have been possible to move vastly more money into quick trigger infrastructure projects,” Summers said.
If there was greater willingness to bypass state governments and greater willingness to be less paranoid about "accountability" the money could have easily been spent. Quick infrastructure could have been done by funneling money to local water authorities. Also, too, direct aid to local transit authorities for things like bus purchases. And as we now know, spending it quickly wasn't the only consideration.
Things may have been hard given the constraints they imposed on themselves, but those constraints were...self-imposed. I guarantee my local government and my local transit authority could have easily spent as much money as they shoveled to them. Sure it may not have all been spent wisely, but it would have been spent more wisely than not spending it at all.
We Were Proved Fucking Right
Sadly where we are.
And when I talk to their staffs, the message I hear is not "we were wrong about how the world works, and are rethinking the issues from the ground up to figure out what to do" but instead "we were unlucky: our policies were good".
The Smart Men In Dark Suits
I've long had this fantasy view of the way things work in DC, where some President (left or right) might occasionally get some sort of "crazy" idea and the men in dark suits show up and explain how things "really are" and nip that crazy nonsense in the bud.
Not sure if they actually have the little Men in Black brain erasers, but it's as if they do.
Not sure if they actually have the little Men in Black brain erasers, but it's as if they do.
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Down down 520. Reminds me of all the fun we had a couple of years ago.
You Forgot Cell Phones!!!
Yes most used appliances are cheap bordering on free. I'm sure decades a go the Right would have seen a family of Strapping Young Bucks in possession of multiple color television sets and perceived that as obscene wealth, but back then such things at least cost real money. Now the existence of one essentially free color TV is proof that the poor have it too good.
It's The Economy, Stupid
Repeating myself for the billionth time, but, yes, people don't have any jobs and they don't have any money and the economy sucks.
This Should Be Fun
I'm not personally interested in evangelistic atheism, but the playing field for such things should be leveled in state institutions.
I'm sure the usual suspects will squeal loudly, as freedom demands that they have a monopoly on such activities.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Army has approved an atheism-themed concert event at Fort Bragg after months of disagreement about the show.
Sgt. Justin Griffith, a Bragg soldier and military director of American Atheists, says the event could be a turning point for military personnel who don't belong to any religious tradition.
Griffith had tried to organize the festival this year, but canceled it in the spring after saying the Army post wasn't treating the secular event the same way it had helped an earlier Christian concert.
I'm sure the usual suspects will squeal loudly, as freedom demands that they have a monopoly on such activities.
Rural Moochers
I'm not serious. I don't mind that on a per capita basis many rural areas extract money from the rest of us. I just hate the narrative about the real rural heartland america where everyone's a self-reliant Galtian hero, blah blah blah..
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
I wonder if any serious investor could actually explain what new information "the market" has which could explain why DJIA should be worth 11% less than it was 2 weeks ago.
Down 3.3% today so far, which maybe we could explain on the S&P downgrade except for the fact that Treasury prices (yields) are way up (down).
Down 3.3% today so far, which maybe we could explain on the S&P downgrade except for the fact that Treasury prices (yields) are way up (down).
The Free Market
Just a reminder of the obvious, that the values of global stock markets are largely dependent on how much government intervention participants can expect.
Bring Out The Plunge Protection Team
I supported QEII under the 'do anything' view, but it's probably the case that it's short term impact was making rich assholes richer with perhaps a few pennies shaking free from the wallets and landing on the rest of us.
A stock market crash is about the only thing which will make elites act, though they will act to... make sure rich assholes remain rich. Any positive impact on the rest of us will be chance.
A stock market crash is about the only thing which will make elites act, though they will act to... make sure rich assholes remain rich. Any positive impact on the rest of us will be chance.
Residual Trust
I suppose one thing which differentiates liberalish people who are otherwise in rough agreement on policy is the degree to which they have basic faith in "the system," whether they see failures of our Very Serious Institutions as aberrations or as central to our problems. To me, groups like the S&P and CFR and Brookings and most other similar type things which have built up a brand over the years, deserved or not, are crap.
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